


He Said "I Am The Devil, Boy"

by klein_monsti



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, F/M, M/M, Manipulation, Multi, Rating May Change, Seduction to the Dark Side, Sort of temporary character death, Spoilers for 3x20, Unreliable Narrator, but it all works out, direct follow up on 3x20, or maybe not?, with Len you never know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-10-28 09:25:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10828419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klein_monsti/pseuds/klein_monsti
Summary: “We need to go get Captain Cold.”, Barry declared unceremoniously. It earned him an array of faces in various states of disbelief.“Why?”, Joe asked finally at the same time as Wally said “How?” and HR followed up with: “Isn’t he dead?”After learning Savitar's true identity Barry enlists the help of the only person he believes capable of outsmarting him - Leonard Snart. Unfortunately Barry is not the only one who can see the benefit of an alliance with Captain Cold. And soon Savitar shows up to make his pitch.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After this week's reveal of Savitar's true identity and the synopsis of 3x22 saying Barry will turn to Snart for help on the Savitar matter, my brain just short circuted. Who knew that evil!Barry trying to seduce Len back to the dark side was something I needed? I didn't. 
> 
> Anyway, this story is a direct follow-up to the events of 3x20, exploring how the story could continue. I'll try my best to finish this up before too much of it get's josted by the upcoming Flash episodes.

Silence fell over the cortex; the air seemed somewhat heavier now, burdened with the name Barry had just spoken. Savitar’s real name. His name.

Barry knew he had to tell them. If Iris died because he was ashamed of a future that had not yet come to past he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. He’d rather see the team, his friends, stare at him in horror and disgust. He’d rather see Iris walk away from him after this was all over than not seeing her walk away from her encounter with Savitar at all.

Still he was afraid to look up, afraid to see the expression on their faces. So he kept staring at the floor instead. For a long time nobody spoke.

“Oh man, this is just messed up.” Cisco was the first to find his voice again.

When Barry finally looked up to meet his gaze, he found that Cisco didn’t seem like he was seconds away from opening up a breach and throwing Barry to the other end of the multiverse. That at least had to count for something, Barry decided.

“I know. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it myself.”  
“I can’t believe we’re going to let that happen to you.”, Joe said shaking his head in disbelieve.

And that was just messed up. Barry could have understood Joe putting a gun to his head about right now, but Joe essentially blaming himself for Barry turning himself into an evil speedster deity? That was completely wrong. And it was not what he needed from his team right now.

HR cleared his throat. “So how do we stop him?”

That was more like it. Barry took a deep breath. He already had had a while to think about that in between the moments when his head took a break from spinning with the whole surreality of it all.

“Whatever we do, I can’t be part of it.”, Barry declared. “If I’m with you out there fighting him, he will remember every move we make.”  
Cisco nodded. “So we head out without you. He might still know we’re coming but he won’t know our game play.”  
“Exactly. As far as I can see, that’s our only chance of taking him by surprise.”

“Only one problem with that, mate.”, Julian now joined the conversation. “Without you we don’t stand a chance against Savitar. I mean look at us.” He gestured around the cortex. “We’ve got Cisco and a speedster in training – no offence, Wally. The rest of us are only human with no special abilities whatsoever. He’s the god of speed and he’s still got Killer Frost on his side.” Julian shook his head. “It will never work.”

Barry looked at Cisco and saw him worrying his bottom lip. Cisco nodded silently along with what Julian said, apparently agreeing with him while also trying to somehow find a solution for their problem. “If only Caitlin was still with _us_ instead of him.”, Cisco said finally. “Before she turned all Killer Frost her powers where the only thing we had that could at least slow him down for a bit.”

“Of course.”, Julian chimed in. “Because cold and speed are opposites. Her abilities would cancel out his. That’s brilliant.”  
“Have you already forgotten about the part where she is running around looking up all adoringly to Savitar? She won’t be any help to us.”, Cisco reminded him.

“Well, can’t you build something that generates a similar stream of ice, like the one she can shoot from her hands?”

Barry shifted nervously on his feet. “I feel like I shouldn’t be here for this conversation.”  
Everyone’s head turned towards him as they all suddenly remembered that they should keep as much as possible of their plan a secret from Barry in order to keep it secret from Savitar. Barry pointed to the door sheepishly. “I guess I better go elsewhere. Keep me… well, uniformed.” And with that Barry shuffled out the door and down the hall to the speed lab.

-

He hadn’t been in the speed lab for five minutes when he could hear steps coming down the hall and a moment later Iris walked in. Barry averted his eyes, he didn’t wanna look at her right now. She hadn’t said anything back in the cortex and Barry had been glad for it. He was sure he didn’t wanna hear what she had to say now.

But Iris didn’t speak up. The only thing Barry heard was the sounds of her steps coming closer until he could see the points of her shoes directly before him where he was staring at the floor. Then suddenly her arms were around him, holding him close and Barry closed his eyes and felt hot tears behind his eyelids. He wanted to push her away, tell her that he didn’t deserve her comfort; he didn’t deserve any of it. But under all his superhero bravado he was still just mostly human and if this was the last chance he’d get to hold her, he wouldn’t let it go to waste. So he lowered his head to let it rest on her shoulder and let himself fall into her embrace. 

For a long time they just stood like that and when Iris finally pulled away a bit, her hands didn’t go far but moved upwards to cup his face.  
“I’m so sorry, Barry. You must feel horrible.”  
Barry wasn’t sure this was the right thing to say when you just discovered that a future version of your fiancée was an evil speed god who was planning to murder you.

Apparently Iris read his mind. She’d always been good at that.  
“This is not your fault, Barry. He isn’t you, not really. He’s just some twisted version of you.”  
But Barry didn’t wanna hear it. He turned his face away in Iris’ hands but she wouldn’t let him go. How was he gonna make her see? Savitar wasn’t some doppelganger from another earth or anything. The only thing separating them was time - the years Barry would spend without Iris. What was so truly horrible to Barry was learning that he had this potential for darkness inside of him to begin with.

“Hey, I know what you’re thinking.” Iris said. And she probably did. She had this ability to understand Barry like no-one else. “Sometimes circumstances turn us into something we’re not, something we don’t want to be. Look at Caitlin. She’s out there working with Savitar right now.”  
Barry opened his mouth to defend his friend, it wasn’t Caitlin’s fault after all, but Iris was quicker and kept talking. “But we won’t give up on her, won’t we? She is still our friend.”  
“Of course.”, Barry agreed, voice heavy with emotion.  
“Then stop thinking, we will abandon you for something some other version of yourself is doing.” Iris was now using her I-won’t-tolerate-your-nonsense voice, the one that commanded authority and for the addressed party to get their shit together. “And stop thinking you will become him. You can still prevent that, Barry. After all, now we know something Barry from 2024 didn’t. We know who Savitar is. Doesn’t that proof that we can still change what is happening to us in the here and now?”

When she finally let go of his face, Barry quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, than nodded to show that he had understood her.

“I guess you’re right. I just wish I could be of more help to you guys instead of being an active threat to our plans.”  
Iris rubbed his arm sympathetically. “I understand. But right now you’re helping us the most with not helping.”  
Barry shook his head. “I don’t know. Even if I’m not in the room with you, I still know how you guys think. I know what you’re capable of and what not. If only there was somebody…”  
He trailed off, a thought taking shape in his mind.

Iris noticed the change in his expression.  
“What’s going on?”  
“I’ve got an idea.”

-

“Barry, didn’t we come to the conclusion that you should sit this one out?” Cisco looked confused and a little put out as Barry walked back into the cortex with Iris in tow. HR hastily let disappear what looked like a bunch of Lego figures – probably taken from their model of the future – they’d apparently used to illustrate their battle plan with.

“We need to go get Captain Cold.”, Barry declared unceremoniously. It earned him an array of faces in various states of disbelief.

“Why?”, Joe asked finally at the same time as Wally said “How?” and HR followed up with: “Isn’t he dead?”

Barry decided to start with the easiest question. “Yes, yes he is dead.” Okay maybe not that easy given the fact that the answer created a lump in Barry’s throat he had not allowed himself to feel since he had stored his feelings on that matter far away to go and fight aliens. Barry shook his head, trying to get a grip of himself. “But that doesn’t matter. I can go back in time and get him - a past version of him anyway.”

“Which leaves us with Joe’s quite excellent question…”, Cisco interrupted. “…as to why the hell we would want Captain Cold back here with us right now. Don’t we have enough problems already?” Cisco had never quite managed to warm up to Leonard Snart after the thief had kidnapped him and his brother and had made him give up Barry’s secret identity. But personal animosities didn’t matter right now, Barry decided. Cisco would just have to deal with it; for all their sakes.

“Just think about it.”, Barry tried to reason with him. “Remember who you’re gonna be up against. As evil and twisted as he might be, underneath that suit of armour he’s still me.” Here Barry stopped for a second as shame threatened to overtake him again. But he knew he couldn’t let it, not now, not when he had a plan that might actually save Iris. “Whatever plan you come up with, he’ll be able to adapt to it. He just knows you too well… _I_ know you too well.”

They still didn’t look like they understood, so Barry kept on going. “What you need is someone, whose moves I can’t anticipate, someone who has proven that he can outsmart me.”  
Joe sighted, apparently finally catching on. “Someone like Leonard Snart?”

“Exactly. Pretty much everyone else I’ve ever come up against only stood a chance because they had some unique powers I had to figure out how to counter. Snart… Well he might have the Cold Gun – which actually should be quite useful when you go up against Savitar.”, Barry said remembering what they had talked about earlier, about Cisco wanting to build a device that could slow down a speedster with powers similar to Killer Frost’s. “But what truly made him special was that I could never quite figure him out. It’s how he got me on Ferris Air. It’s how he learned my secret identity.” Cisco winced. Barry ignored him. “What I’m saying is: If I can’t foresee his strategy, neither can Savitar.”

Barry looked around. He could see his friends mulling his words over in their heads. He knew he was right and so did they. It didn’t mean they were okay with it. 

“I’m telling you.”, Barry said with all the conviction he felt. “You’re gonna need him. If anyone can take me… if anyone can take _Savitar_ down, it’s him.”

Cisco ran a hand through his hair, still looking unhappy but apparently realising that Barry had I point there. “I don’t like this one bit.”, he said.  
“Believe me, me neither.”, Joe agreed. “And let’s assume we go through with it anyway. How will you get him through the time stream, Barry? He’s not a speedster, he’s not even a meta.”  
“Do we still have the parts of Thawne’s time sphere?”, Barry asked turning towards Cisco.  
“Yes, we do.”  
“You think you might be able to put them back together?”  
Cisco managed to look both sheepish and proud of himself at that. “I might have actually already repaired it.”  
They all stared at Cisco nonplussed. He just shrugged. “What? You never know when a vehicle that can travel through time might come in handy.”

 

* * *

 

_23 rd December 2015_

Barry watched as Leonard Snart exited the West house and started walking down the streets. He waited till his other self and Iris wouldn’t see him if they happened to look out the window than rushed forward, grabbed Snart and pulled him behind the tool shed in one of their neighbour’s garden.

Snart looked surprised for only a second. Then when he realised that it was Barry before him, his patented smug smile tugged on his lips. “Hello again there, Barry. Was there something left unsaid?”  
“Quite a few things actually.” Barry mumbled more to himself than to Snart. It was certainly true. If Barry had only known back then that this Christmas Eve had been his last chance to talk to Leonard Snart he might not have let him walk out of his house so easily.

Snart lifted an eyebrow, obviously intrigued by Barry’s words. “Things you didn’t want our dear Miss West to hear?” He glanced down to where Barry’s hands were still resting on his hips.  
Barry hastily withdrew them. He hadn’t really thought about what it would be like; to stand there only inches from Leonard Snart again, knowing that in his time the man would be dead and gone.  

“Come on, Barry, quit looking at me like I’m the Ghost of Christmas Past.” And Barry wanted to laugh at how bitterly accurate that one was. “If you want something just spit it out.”

Barry took a deep breath. Snart was right, Barry had to get a grip of himself and start discussing the business he was here for; even if he didn’t quite know where to begin.

“So…”, he finally started, “first of all, you should probably know that I’m not the Barry you just talked to in that house.” As was to be expected Snart actually looked confused by that so Barry kept on going. “I’m from the future.”  
“The _future_?”, Snart repeated, one eyebrow drawn up again.  
Barry reminded himself that this Leonard Snart hadn’t made his own experiences with time travel yet, so Barry tried to be patient. “Yes, uhm… if I run fast enough I can actually travel through time.  
“Impressive.”, Snart said. If he was taken aback by this revelation he certainly did his best not to let it show. Instead he wore that cool collected expression of superiority on his face that Barry hated and… well not-hated at the same time.

Snart took a step forward which brought him back into Barry’s personal space. “So Barry-from-the-future, what brings you to this nick of time then?”  
Barry did his best to mirror Snart expression and not let on how his knees threatened to go week just because Leonard Snart fixed him with an intense stare out of piercing blue-green eyes. He feared he did a terrible job.

“I need your help.”, he tried to declare matter-of-factly. And then it just came spilling out of him. “In the future, ehm… the time where I come from – 2017 – , there is an evil speedster from even further down the time line. I can’t fight him myself, so I need someone who can help the team to come up with a plan to take him down.”

Snart still didn’t seem rattled by any of that, he just seemed to think about what Barry had just said, looking at the facts from every angle, dissecting Barry’s words. This was exactly why Barry wanted him to fight Savitar.

“So tell me, Barry.”, Snart said finally. “Why me?”  
Barry swallowed “Because you’ve already proven that you can hold your own against me. Whenever we go toe-to-toe you come out on top just as often as I do.” _Bad choice of words_ Barry’s brain shouted at him and Barry’s cheeks grew hot as he saw a sly smile stretching over Snart’s face.  
“Well, that still doesn’t make me an expert on speedsters. If anything it makes me an expert on Barry Allen.”

 _Time to face the music_ , Barry thought. If he wanted Snart to outwit Savitar he would have to tell him who he was up against anyway. Better sooner than later.  
“What if I told you, that this evil speedster from the far future actually _is_ Barry Allen? That he is me?”

For the first time during this conversation, maybe even for the first time ever, Barry saw Leonard Snart truly thrown off his game. He stared at Barry in disbelief, eyes wide and uncomprehensive. Then slowly his expression melted back into something Barry was more used to seeing on Snart’s face; something akin to bitter humour.     

“I would say, you’re full of shit, Barry.”  
“But it’s true.”, Barry insisted. “In the future Iris… she dies and it… it just breaks me.” He had to swallow hard but carried on. “And I don’t know what happens to me exactly but somehow I end up being imprisoned in the speed force for an eternity or two and that’s enough to make me go completely insane and I become… I become him.” Barry broke their eye-contact looking at the frost hardened earth to his feet instead. “He calls himself Savitar. And now he is back to ensure his own creation by killing Iris.”

He looked up again because this next part was important; it was important that Snart understood.  
“I can’t face him myself because whatever I do, whatever I think, it instantly becomes a memory to him, allowing him to counter every move I make. So I need someone who knows how I think, what I would do and who can use that to his own advantage; someone like you.”

Snart seemed to think about that for a while but surely he couldn’t deny the truth in what Barry had just said.

“So let’s assume I believe you, Barry.”, he eventually said in that pondering tone of his. “Why come to me _now_? What’s so special about me in this time and place? Why come all the way back to 2015 instead of going to me for help in your own time.”

Snart’s eyes bore into Barry as Barry squirmed to come up with an answer to that. He wondered if Snart believed that whatever fragile cease-fire they had right now would be history in 2017, that he’d become Barry’s enemy again, someone Barry couldn’t possibly trust with his life. Or did Snart actually suspect that something was going to happen to him. And if Barry confirmed that suspicion now, would Snart still be willing to help?

But he also knew he couldn’t full-on lie to Snart. Barry was too bad a liar for that. Snart would see right through him. So he decided not to press his luck and went with something close to the truth instead.

“I don’t know where to find you in my time. You, Mick Rory and some other people leave on a very important mission throughout space and time. It’s a long story, but you’re protecting history itself and you could be at any point of it right now. We had no means of tracking you down so I went back to the last time I saw you before you left.” Barry hoped that was convincing enough. At least Snart didn’t look suspicious anymore; more amused actually, a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

“So you're saying that in the future I will be a hero and you will be the dark lord of speedsters?”  
“That's about right. ”  
And suddenly Snart started laughing. It would have been a gorgeous sound if the circumstances had been different – and if Barry didn’t have to worry about Snart’s laughter possibly bringing out the neighbours to investigate.   
  
“You almost had me there, Barry.” Snart wiped at his eyes when he finally got a grip of himself again. “That is until you told me I'm becoming some sort of hero.”  
“But it's true. There is…”  
“Good in me?” Snart raised a sarcastic eyebrow.  
Barry decided not to be thrown off by that and stand his ground. “Yes. That’s right. Whether you want to believe it or not. It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t change the truth. You have the potential for good inside of you… just like I apparently have the potential for great evil.”

It was probably the last part that did it – Barry all but admitting his own fear of turning evil – but Snart sobered completely and Barry got the feeling that he was coming around to actually believing everything Barry had told him.

“Okay”, Snart said businesslike, apparently trying to get this conversation back on track. “What’s in it for me?”  
Barry should have seen that one coming, actually he had seen it coming but he had absolutely no clue what he had to offer a Leonard Snart from over a year in the past.

Barry shrugged. “I helped save your sister’s life. Doesn’t that count for something?”  
“I suppose it does. But I just warned you… the other you about Jesse and Mardon. And traveling to the future to stop an evil speed god? That sounds like a big deal. No, I’m still gonna need something in exchange.”  
“Fine.” Barry sighted. “Name your price.”

Snart didn’t reply right away. His eyes stayed on Barry as if he was doing a complex calculation.  
“So how far back into the past can you travel?”, he asked finally.  
Barry shrugged again. “I don’t know. I once ran back to March 2000.” He didn’t feel like explaining why and Snart didn’t ask.  
“What about 1975? Would you be able to go there?”  
“I guess so. Why?”  
“Because once this is all over I want you to take me there.”  
Barry didn’t like the sound of that. “Why?”, he asked again.  
“Because I wanna go steal a jewel. That’s why.”, Len replied rather matter-of-factly. He snorted when he saw Barry’s expression of indignation. “If it’s any consolation to you, it’s gonna get stolen anyway. And I won’t bring it back here with me either. It’ll stay in 1975. I just wanna make sure it falls into the right hands, that’s all.”  
Barry sighted, silently calculating how one misplaced jewel would play into the grand scheme of time. From some of the stories he’d heard from Ray and Stein, the Legends had at one point or another intervened far more aggressively and time had always managed to work around it. And if that jewel was the price for Iris’s life…

“All right. It’s a deal.” Barry stretched out his hand for Snart to shake. Snart eyed it for a moment, then took it, sealing their agreement.

“So, Barry…” Snart slowly let go of Barry’s hand again. “How exactly does one travel through time?” “Well if you would just follow me behind these bushes.”, Barry said and then turned red again when Snart couldn’t suppress a chuckle at that. “I parked my time sphere behind them.”, he quickly added.  
Snart just made a grand gesture with his arm, pointing the way.  
“After you, Barry.”

 

* * *

 

Cisco looked anything but happy when Barry walked back into the cortex with Captain Cold in tow.  
“Hello again, Team Flash”, Snart said as he entered, looking around the room scanning the familiar and unfamiliar faces. The latter were certainly in majority. “Care to introduce me to everyone, Scarlet?”  
“Right. So this is KidFlash.” Barry pointed to Wally who had put on his costume. Sure they were going to deliver Snart back to his own time line soon enough and it wouldn’t really matter if he knew KidFlash’s secret identity but better safe than sorry.

Snart grinned as he looked Wally over. “You adopted, Barry? That’s so cute.”  
Wally just rolled his eyes but didn’t dignify that with a comment. Barry decided to follow his example. Especially were the eye roll was concerned.  
“Anyway, this guy over here is Julian. He’s a meta specialist from the CCPD. And of course there is HR. It’s complicated but basically he’s a doppelganger of our Harrison Wells from another earth.”  
“Really?” Snart didn’t seem convinced. “He doesn’t look like Harrison Wells.”  
“Oh yeah, right.”, HR said. “That’s the, that’s the… thingy. Wait a second.” There was a bright flash of light that did nothing for Barry but he knew it would let Snart see HR’s real face now.  
Snart blinked but shook it off as quickly as the fact that HR looked like Harrison Wells again all of the sudden. His eyes however flashed to the facial transmogrification device in HR’s hands and Barry could only imagine how interested he’d be in that kind of technology. It surely would come in handy when planning a heist. Barry made a mental note to check Snart’s pockets before bringing him back to the past.

“We still seem to be one member short.”, Snart commented, scanning the room again. “Were is Dr. Snow?” An icy silence fell over the room. “She’s not dead, is she?”  
“No.”, Barry was quick to say. “But she… she aligned herself with Savitar.”  
“Sweet vanilla Caitlin Snow is working for the enemy?”  
“She developed ice powers.”, Cisco explained. “And she got a frosty alter ego to go with it.”

Barry felt like they were now seconds away from launching into battle plan discussion. It was probably time to take his bow. “Okay I’m gonna head out now.”, he said to his team. “Just remember, Snart, Savitar knows everything I do. So he’s aware that I just went back in time to get you. He knows that you will try to outsmart him. But he can’t know what you’re thinking so just… be yourself, be a step ahead.”

And with that Barry left the cortex. Behind him he could hear that Snart was now addressing Cisco.  
“So Ramon, from what I’ve heard I am a real life hero these days.” “No, you’re future self is sort a hero, I guess. But _you_ , my friend, you are still a criminal.”  
“And thank god for that.”

-  

Barry once again headed to the speed lab and was also soon joined by Iris once more.  
“So Leonard Snart.”, she said. Sliding down the wall to sit beside Barry on the floor.  
“Leonard Snart.”, Barry agreed without even really knowing what he was agreeing to exactly.  
“He’s on your List, isn’t he?”  
And now Barry had no idea what she was talking about. “What list?”  
“You know.”, she said nudging his arm slightly, “The List.” At Barry’s still blank expression she obviously took pity on him and elaborated, “You know the list with the three people you’re allowed to cheat on me with?”

Barry could feel his face growing hot. Yes, there had always been this… sexual tension between him and Snart; right from the very moment they had first faced off against each other. But it had also been always clear to Barry that he could never act on it, not when Snart had basically been his nemesis and especially not now that he was with Iris. And speaking of Iris, how the hell had she figured that one out anyway? Was Barry really that transparent or did Iris just knew him too well? He just didn’t know what to say to her. She helped him out by not waiting for an answer and kept on talking herself.     

“I know you don't like the idea of that list too much and I know you never told me who would be on yours. But if I had to guess…” Barry wanted to bury his face in his hands but Iris wouldn’t let him, practically forcing him to look at her instead. “I'm just saying: It's okay, Barry. I mean, he just barely didn't make mine.” Barry stared at her. She shrugged. “It was between him and Ricky Whittle.”

Barry knew about Ricky Whittle. Just like he knew about Natalie Dormer and Oliver Queen. What he hadn’t known was that apparently Leonard Snart had been the runner-up. And what the hell was wrong with Iris' taste anyway? Sure Whittle was sex on a stick but Snart was… well Snart.

The truth was Barry had never made such a list because he liked to believe that Iris was all he ever truly wanted. But deep down Barry knew if he were to make one, he'd only write down one person; only one guy he could see himself wanting even when he already had Iris.

He knew he couldn’t lie to Iris now by saying he had never, not even once, thought about it. So he stuck with something he knew was true instead. “It doesn’t matter. He’s here to save your life. That’s all that’s counting right now.”  
“I know that, Barry. Of course I know that. How could I forget?”  
Barry felt bad immediately. Sometimes he felt like he was the one who was forgetting who really had the most to lose here.  
“But Barry if this goes right…”, she continued not even giving him the chance to apologize. “There will be time after that. The past will keep waiting for him. By now you should know better than any of us, that you shouldn’t let your chances go to waste.” She nudged his arm again. “I mean, just so you know, if Oliver Queen came knocking right now, I wouldn’t send him back to Star City.”

Barry didn’t know whether to laugh or feel offended but Iris just chuckled and got up again. She smiled down at him one last time before leaving the speed lab, leaving Barry to his own thoughts.

It was all just so surreal. And even if Iris was right, even if everything went according to plan and even if she was okay with Barry getting this… this crush he had on Captain Cold out of his system, how could he? Even assuming Snart would be on board with it, how would Barry be able to send him back to the past afterwards with a clear conscience? Knowing what time had in store for Leonard Snart it would already be hard enough without Barry throwing personal feelings into the mix.   

 

* * *

 

When Cisco’s new software picked up Killer Frost’s cold signature over at City Hall all eyes went – in Cisco’s case grudgingly – to Captain Cold, silently inquiring what to do about it. Leonard decided that they should go after her. If they managed to catch her she might be able to give them information on Savitar. And even if not, it would still at least weaken Savitar if she no longer did the dirty work for him. So Wally, Cisco and Len headed out to meet her.

The ensuing fight hadn’t even been going for two minutes however when it suddenly became horrifyingly clear that it had been a trap along. Suddenly Savitar came flashing by, took a hold of Leonard and disappeared with him in a streak of blue lightning.

When Savitar dropped him off again only seconds later Leonard looked around and saw that they weren’t anywhere near City Hall anymore. Instead they were standing in the exact same clearing that Barry had taken him the night Len had learned his secret identity. Savitar seemed to study his reaction to their surroundings and notice Len’s eyes flicker with recognition.    

“You noticed?” Savitar sounded proud of himself making a wide gesture to encompass their surroundings.  
“Yes, it’s a nice touch.”, Len agreed. “Then again it would be even nicer if you gave me the curtesy of showing me your face when you talk to me.” he motioned to the bulky suit of armour that shielded every inch of Savitar from view. “After all”, Len contuined, “that’s what Barry Allen did when we were having our little chat here.” He tried to play on Savitar’s ego but all he got was a vicious snare.  
“Do you think me stupid, Captain Cold?”

It was hard to tell with the blue lights coming out of the armour instead of real eyes but Len could have sworn that Savitar’s gaze flickered to the Cold Gun that Leonard was still holding from the fight with Killer Frost.

“What? You call yourself a god but you’re afraid of _this_?” Len held up the Cold Gun for Savitar to see. Then he threw it away, letting it land halfway between himself and his opponent. “What about now?”, Len asked again.

Savitar seemed to calculate the situation. “You make one wrong move...”, he snared eventually. “And I will break your neck before you can even blink.” And then he bowed down and the suit of armour opened up in the back, allowing Savitar to step out of it. 

When he righted himself again and raised his head to look at Leonard, Len’s eyes widened for a second when he took in the scars marring half of the familiar and yet foreign face. His reaction didn’t seem to escape Savitar either.   
“Not what you expected to see, Captain Cold?”  
“Not exactly.”, Len replied truthfully. “But it’s okay, I won’t judge. I have my own fair amount of scars.”, he offered.  
“I don’t care. And I don’t care what you think of me.” Savitar didn’t raise his voice but he sounded cold and deadly nonetheless. Len had to tread carefully here.

“Well, what do you care about then?”, he asked. “You knew that I was coming so I was already wondering when you would come over for a little private chat. So say what you want to say. Let’s get this over with.”  
“Don’t be like this. Don’t act like you have any right to feel superior to me. You know nothing, Leonard Snart.” He paused, Len got the feeling that it was for dramatic effect. “I on the other hand know a lot of things. I know why Barry came to you for help and I must congratulate him on the idea. But I also know what kind of man you are.” He led that sink in for a moment.

“I know what Barry Allen told you, but most importantly. I know what he didn't tell you.” A cruel smile tugged on Savitar’s lips. “What? You really believe that he went to get last year's model because he couldn't find dear old you in the here and now?”  
No, Len hadn’t believed that for a second. Not when Barry’s tale had hinged on the kid’s own wishful thinking of Len becoming a hero one day. But he sure as hell wouldn’t let Savitar know that. 

“Well I heard I'm away on important business. Apparently I become a hero.”  
“That's right.”, Savitar said taking Len completely by surprise. But before he could properly wrap his head around it Savitar continued. “Oh yes, you become a hero... And you die like one too. Which is to say stupidly and unnecessarily.” 

Leonard couldn’t help the shiver running down his back when Savitar confirmed his worst suspicion about his own future. There had been a number of reasons Len had thought of as to why Barry had picked – what was to Barry – a past version of him but deep down he had had this feeling that something bad was going to happen to him. He had decided not to dwell on things that were yet to come, sure that if he only learned enough of the future he would be able to change his own path in the past. But when he _had_ thought about it he had envisioned going down in a heist gone wrong or in a shoot-out with one of Central’s crime families. Dying a hero’s death however? That had never crossed Len’s mind.

"Yes Snart, this is where this path of good deeds will lead you. The path Barry Allen has set you on.”    

Every fiber of his being strived against the very thought. But he could still change his fate couldn’t he? Wasn’t that what Barry brought him here for? To defy the predetermined course of events?

But still Savitar kept on talking. “And if you think you can talk to Barry about this, maybe find a solution for your little predicament; you’ve got another thing coming.” Savitar started moving towards Len, to the middle of the clearing where the Cold Gun was lying. “See, Barry has this thing now, where he suddenly decided that he cares about the integrity of the timeline. So once all this is over, he will take you back to your time and make sure you forget all of this ever happened.” He picked up the Cold Gun, running his fingers over it in almost wistful reminiscence. Then he looked up to catch Leonard’s eyes again. “You will just go on livingly you're life like you were supposed to and a few months later you will die at the end of the universe,” a cruel smile played around his lips. “also like you're supposed to.”     

“And I assume you're offering to let me stay in this time and live if I bow out gracefully now?”, Len asked with a mix of calculation and mockery.  
“Oh I intend to do you one better." Savitar came sauntering over the rest of the way until his face was only inches from Leonard’s. Len refused to back down. Slowly, predatorily, Savitar started rounding him, the hand that wasn’t holding the Cold Gun brushed over Leonard’s hips. Suddenly Savitar pressed in even closer, his chin on Leonard’s shoulder and his breath a hot whisper in Len’s ear.     
“Let's talk business, my dear Captain.”

Leonard did his best not to react to Savitar in any way but to keep his cold and professional bearings. “Alright, I’m listening.”  
He could practically feel Savitar’s smirk even if he couldn’t see his face over his own shoulder.  
“Well, if I’m not mistaken you just met my little protégée Killer Frost.”  
“I had the pleasure, yes.”   

“So did you like what you saw?”  
Len couldn’t help a little snort. “I gotta admit, she’s not really my type.”  
“That’s not what I meant.”, if Savitar was annoyed with Len being deliberately difficult he didn’t let it show. “No, I’m talking about her powers. The control over ice and… cold. You have a thing for the cold yourself, don’t you Leonard?” Again the seductive whisper in his ear. It should have been comical coming from sweet naïve Barry Allen’s mouth but it was anything but. “I gave Killer Frost those powers. I can give you powers as well.”

“I mean this…” Savitar held up the Cold Gun. “It’s a nice toy. It certainly gave me a run for my money back in the good old days. But in the end you're just a mortal man with a fancy gun.” At the word ‘gun’ Savitar placed the muzzle of the Cold Gun under Len’s chin. He slowly rubbed it back and forth, almost like a caress; let it play over Len’s Adam’s apple. He nudged at bit until Len turned his head towards him so they could look each other in the eyes again.     

“I can make you _divine_.” Savitar drawled the last word, letting the Cold Gun slip down to rest at his side again. “The god of speed and the god of cold. Together we can rule this earth, hell, any earth we want. And you can rob all the banks you like on our way, if it gives you a kick.” 

Leonard had never believed in the existence of the devil but he thought Savitar came very close to fitting the description. The great seducer, deliberately wearing the face of the person you always had a hard time saying no to, offering you the universe. It of course also meant that an offer like that never came without a hook.   

He turned so he could face Savitar fully, partly taking the initiative back from him. He let his hand glide down to rest over Savitar’s where he was still holding the Cold Gun. “Seems to me like you’d be capable of accomplishing all that on your own. So why cut me in?” He narrowed his eyes, letting Savitar see his suspicion. “Why would a king want to share his realm with another?”

Savitar smirked. “Maybe I just like the idea of having you by my side through-out eternity.” At Len’s raised eyebrow he sighted. “You have your doubts about me. I get that. So to show you that my intentions are genuine, let me throw in something extra that _Barry…_ ” he said the name like it was something vile. “…would be too much of a coward to offer you.”

And the next thing he knew Savitar’s lips were on his, demanding, fierce, unrelenting; surely nothing like Barry Allen would kiss. Leonard gave himself over to it, let Savitar force his lips open with an eager tongue. Let him explore Leonard’s mouth to his liking, staking his claim. 

When they finally prated Len had to take a moment to catch his breath.    
“I have to give it to you, _Savitar_ ,” Len curled his snarl around the name and watched the other man shiver in delight at the sound of it. “That was one hell of a pitch."  
“So what do you say?”  
“What do you think?” He let his hand snake around Savitar’s neck and drew him in for another searing kiss.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m really sorry. This chapter took way longer than expected. The good news however is that while I was suffering from my writer’s block on chapter two I actually managed to write a huge chunk of chapter three (Don’t ask, I know it’s weird). So at least you probably won’t have to wait too long for the last and final update. 
> 
> I also updated the tags because I feel we should all know (at least roughly) where this is going. Also while I think we can all agree that Len/Savitar is quite hot, Savitar is still the bad guy here so things might not work out for him, no matter what it seems like. (Sorry, Savitar, one day I’ll give you a proper redemption arc)
> 
> This chapter does now include a scene that pretty much follows the idea from 3x22 but of course no real spoilers for this episode since all I've seen of it so far was the promo trailer.

Cisco was sitting at his work station in the cortex, analysing how everything could have gone so spectacularly wrong. They hadn’t managed to apprehend Killer Frost and now on top of it Captain Cold was gone. Normally the later wouldn’t have left Cisco particularly sad but Barry had been right. Leonard Snart could have been a real wild card in the fight against Savitar. Cisco was just debating with himself whether or not to tell Barry that they had just lost Snart and would have to come up with a new plan asap, as the security cameras picked up Snart entering the elevator on his way up to the cortex.

“What happened?”, Cisco demanded to know as soon as Snart came sauntering into the room as if he had just been gone window shopping for the past hour. “Relax, Ramon. Savitar just wanted to have a little chat with me. You know, asking if I was interested in joining the dark side, becoming a god, ruling the galaxy and all that stuff.” Cisco narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t really sure if Cold was just having him on or if he was being honest – even if slightly sarcastic – about the events following their fight with Killer Frost. “I take it you declined?”, Cisco eventually asked cautiously. Cold rolled his eyes at that.“ No of course not. I’m with Savitar now.” his voice was practically dripping with sarcasm now. “Which is why I’m telling you all of this, so that you know that I’m a traitor.”

Cisco was really quite done with him. Why did this guy have to be such a major drama queen? “Oh my god, _chill_ , Captain Cold. Sorry for not being as blindly trusting as Barry.” “Speaking of him? Where is Barry anyway?” “Speed lab.” Snart turned around and looked like he was about to leave again but Cisco didn’t wanna let him off the hook that easily. “Hold on a second. How did you manage to get away from Savitar anyway?” “Let’s just say Savitar got… distracted. I snatched my gun back from him and shot him. It wasn’t enough to take him down, obviously, but it at least gave me the time I needed to disappear.”

That _did_ sound like a Captain Cold move, Cisco had to admit. “Well since Savitar didn’t crush you under foot.” Cisco did his best to not sound too disappointed about that, reminding himself that they still needed Cold. “You’re technically still in charge here. So what would you have us do?” “Nothing at the moment. Just sit tight. I have to go talk to some people.” And with that Snart made for the exit of the cortex.

 

* * *

 

Barry was in what seemed to be becoming his regular spot in the speed lab as he heard footsteps coming down the corridor. A moment later however he was surprised to see that it wasn’t Iris who entered the room. Instead Leonard Snart came walking over and sat down beside him.

“How did it go?”, Barry asked before thinking about it. “No wait, don’t answer that.” Snart… Leonard? – Barry wasn’t even quite sure what to call him in his heads these days. – chuckled slightly but it wasn’t really a happy sound. “This must be driving you crazy. Stakes this high and you have to sit back and let someone else run the show. I’m not sure if I could do it.” “I just wish I could help somehow. I don’t really mind not being in charge. And well, all of this was my idea to begin with. I know you’re the best man for the job so if the only thing I can do to make sure it works, is to take a step back, I’m willing to do it.” He fixed the other man with an earnest look. “I know you value being in control all the time but personally I think scheming isn’t everything. Sometimes you have to take a chance. Put your trust in someone else.”

Leonard didn’t reply to that and they kept sitting there in silence for a while. Barry knew they couldn’t talk about anything concerning Leonard’s plan to take on Savitar but maybe they could talk about something else. Something completely unrelated and trivial.

“So what's your favourite ice cream?” “Seriously Barry?” Barry shrugged. “I just wanna talk about something, anything.”

The silence settled over them again and Barry started worrying at a loose thread on his shirt, not really wanting to speak up again and make an even bigger fool of himself as he already had. So eventually it was Leonard who broke the silence again.

 “Peppermint.”  “What?” Barry looked at him in confusion.  “My favourite ice cream flavour. It's peppermint.”  Barry couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Of course. With you it can't be anything mundane like chocolate.”  “Which is your favourite, I presume?”  “How'd you know.” Leonard grinned “Because you're so predictable, Barry Allen.” He chuckled good-naturedly. “If it makes you feel any better: chocolate goes perfectly with peppermint.” “You mean other than cold and speed? Because those two have a bit of a troubled relationship. I learned that the first time I met you.” “Good times.”

Barry had to grudgingly agree. His life really had been easier back then when his biggest worries were Captain Cold getting away with the loot. “You know, you were the first? The first that got away. Back then it irked me but now I can’t help but think you’ve actually done me a favour. After I met you I knew that I had to improve, get faster, get better. Going toe to toe with you time and again _made_ me better.” Leonard nodded at him in agreement. “That’s a compliment I can give back. You made me up my game. You made me better too.” “Am I really supposed to be proud that I helped you become a better criminal?” “Why not? Less trouble for everyone, fewer people getting hurt. Hey remember that time me and Lisa stole that ugly-ass painting from the Central City Gallery?”

Barry realized that Leonard was throwing him a bone. Yes, they couldn’t talk about what was going on right now or what was gonna happen next but maybe they could talk about all the things that had been, the times when they had fought together… or against each other. Sometimes Barry though the difference wasn’t even that huge.

They sat there for quite a while going through the little moments of their previous encounters, Barry eventually launching into a retelling of what had happened back then on that train when Leonard had outsmarted him and ultimately had managed to walk away with the diamond he had stolen.      

“I think, somewhere deep down that was the moment I realised I wanted you.” Barry said, as kind of an afterthought and then paled only to feel the blood rushing back to his cheeks a second later. How had that piece of truth slipped out? And how could he salvage the situation now? “Err, I mean I wanted to catch you, I wanted to see you chained up.” Oh god what was he saying. Why did his terrible brain-to-mouth filter have to get him into situations like this? “No, wait, that’s not… even I realise who wrong that sounded and…” His words got caught in his throat when he felt a hand settle over his knee. He turned to see Leonard looking at him with a devious smile on his face. But somehow Barry could tell there was something else under it; genuine surprise and curiosity.

And in the next moment Leonard was leaning over to him and pressed his lips against Barry’s. Barry’s synapses fired, efficiently taking out all of his higher brain functions. But before Barry could react – even if it would just have been on pure instinct – it was over again. Leonard pulled away and when Barry opened his eyes, he hadn’t even realised he had closed - he saw him looking in the direction of the door, as if maybe he had heard or seen something Barry hadn’t noticed.

He followed Leonard’s gaze and to his horror found Iris standing in the doorway, holding a paper cup holder with three coffees. Barry wished the earth would open up and swallow him, or maybe a breach could open up and suck him into another dimension, that would work too. Sadly neither happened and on top of it Iris just smiled and pointed to the cup holder. “Coffee?”

Barry made a point of not looking at Iris and glanced over to Leonard instead, who seemed to be doing his best to put his game face back on. “Sounds lovely, what did you get?” “I’ve got the usual for Barry… and an iced ‘Captain Cold’ for Captain Cold.” “There is a coffee named after me in the future? Sweet.” Barry’s cheeks were still burning and he tried his best not to look at anyone. Before things could get any more awkward however, Cisco came to Barry’s rescue via the intercom system. “Hey, I need all of you in the cortex. Barry, that includes you.”

 

* * *

 

When everybody had gathered around the computer workstation, Cisco turned around to Barry. “Sorry, Barry, I know we agreed to leave you out of this but I think we might need your help on this one.” “What is it?” “Well without saying too much: Tracy is working on a way to get Savitar but she’s gonna need an extremely large power source to finish her project.” Joe, who was standing next to Barry, sighed. “Let me guess, we don’t have anything like it here in the lab.” “No, we don’t.” “What about the black market?”, Leonard asked. “I have my contacts. What kind of power source are we talking about.” “The kind that humanity hasn’t developed yet.” Leonard fixed Cisco with a dark look. “So you’re saying, we’re screwed?” “I didn’t say that. Remember the Dominators?” “No.”, said Leonard at the same time as everyone else said “Yes.”

Barry turned to Leonard. “The Dominators are an alien race that we fought last year.” “Wait, you’re telling me in the future we get invaded by aliens?” Barry shrugged. “Okay, coffee named after me or not, I just decided that the future is a truly weird place.”

“Anyway…”, Cisco intervened. “The point is, the Dominators had power cells like that for their weapons and ships and I did some digging and it turns out one of those power cells is now stored at an ARGUS facility just outside of Central City.” At that Barry brightened up a bit “That’s good, right? Have you called Lyla already?” “Of course I have called Lyla.” Cisco sounded almost offended. “You think I would have assembled this war council if this was something we could solve via a telephone call?” “What did she say then?” “She said that she couldn’t help.” “Did you tell her what’s at stake?”  Wally joined in their conversation. “Of course I told her. She said she was sorry, but she couldn’t let alien tech leave an ARGUS site under any circumstances.”

“Well then.” Leonard clapped his hands. “You’re ready for a little breaking and entering, Barry?” “You wanna steal it?” “Unless you have a better idea.” Barry had to admit he didn’t.

-

And that’s how he found himself standing next to Leonard Snart at a back door entrance to a top secret government facility. What had his life come to? Leonard looked like the cat that had gotten the cream and they hadn’t even entered the building yet. “What are you so excited about?”, Barry couldn’t help but ask. “Are you kidding me? Pulling a heist with Central City’s finest on my side of the law for once, that’s like a dream come true.” Barry rolled his eyes. “I’m doing this because I have no other choice. It’s not like I’m going to enjoy it or anything.” “Now, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, Barry. Believe me the bad guys have so much more fun.”

“If you are quite done…” came Cisco’s voice over their ear pieces. “I could open the door for you now.” “How’d you get into the system anyway?” Barry more or less wondered out loud. “Had a little help from Felicity. Apparently she has experience when it comes to breaking into ARGUS black sites.” Len grinned and reached out to push at the door, which indeed opened without any problem. “Sounds like a woman, I would like to meet.”

They creeped through darkened hallways. Cisco gave them directions via their ear pieces, even though Barry got the impression that Leonard didn’t really need them, apparently having the blue prints committed to memory already.

When Barry went ahead and rounded a corner he nearly walked into the line of sight of a security guard. Before Barry could react – even with his superspeed – arms closed around his hips and pulled him back around the corner. Barry almost yelped as he found himself tightly pressed against Leonard’s chest. He tried his best to calm his breathing in order to not alert the guard around the corner but it proved difficult with Leonard’s hot breath right next to his ear and his arm around Barry’s hip, still pressing them close together, making Barry feel almost every inch of the other man.

Seconds seem to stretch into minutes but eventually Leonard seemed to relax a bit. “Check the corridor again.”, he ordered Barry. And Barry leaned forward a bit to peek around the corner. The guard was gone. “All clear.” “Good. Move.” Barry was almost disappointed when Leonard’s arms fell away from him and he was nudged forward instead.

They walked again in silence and without encountering any more security until they reached the door to the room where Cisco had located the power cell. There was a little window in the steel enforced door and Barry peeked through it. And there it was, just ready for the taking, sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room. It didn’t look like much. If Barry hadn’t known it was alien tech, he might have assumed it was just a simple microchip with a fancy red light blinking in the center of it.

“I don’t like this.” Leonard said his eyes on the door. “What?” “There’s no keypad on this door, no lock, no nothing. If anything, I’d say this door probably locks from the inside, like it’s keeping something in rather than keeping someone out. Somehow I doubt they fear the chip will grow legs and walk away on its own.” Barry shrugged. “Maybe we just caught a lucky break.” He really wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth here. He reached for the handle of the door when suddenly something slammed against the glass window. Barry shied away from the door in shock as he saw a huge black eye and jaws full of sharp white teeth. “What the hell?”, Leonard hissed. “King Shark.”, Barry provided as a way of explanation. “That’s King Shark.” “King Shark? Oh that is just adorable.”

“Any ideas?”, Barry asked with a nod to the door. “Three so far. The one with the most chance of success has you distracting him while I go in and grab the power cell. How does that sound to you?” “Horrible.”, Barry replied truthfully then sighed in defeat nonetheless. “Let’s do it.” Leonard nodded and reached around Barry to close his fingers over the door handle. “Alright, on three. One, two…”

-

To Barry’s mild surprise but great relief the plan actually worked and a few minutes later he slammed the door back shut with an angry King Shark banging on the window from the other side. Their sheer luck and the whole absurdity of the situation suddenly got the better of Barry and before he could get a handle on himself he started laughing. “Oh my god, we really did it.” Barry almost had a hard time drawing breath. “I can’t believe it. This was actually fun.” He wasn’t even lying. The adrenaline causing through his veins, the rush of victory and maybe also Leonard’s presence created an alluring mixture and had been enough to distract Barry from his worries for a moment.

“I told you, Barry, stealing stuff is awesome and the bad guys get to have all the fun.” “Except you’re not really such a bad guy.” Barry just couldn’t help himself. Leonard might hate it, when Barry reminded him that he was more of a hero than a villain these days but for Barry it almost had become a reflex to defend Leonard, even from himself.

For once Leonard didn’t disagree with Barry. They just stood there, backs still pressed against the cold steel of the door and Barry was still giggling but when he caught Leonard’s eyes it turned into a little awkward hiccup as Barry suddenly sobered. There was a fire in those green-blue eyes, Barry could tell Leonard was just as riled up as he and could practically feel the tension building between them. Those eyes kept flicking to Barry’s lips and suddenly Barry was taken back to the moment in the speed lab, that kiss that should not have happened and also should have lasted way longer at the same time. And that look Leonard had had on his face right before he had kissed Barry. Barry could see it again now, the exact same look and because of it he knew what was going to happen next.

Unconsciously Barry leaned over to meet Leonard halfway… when sudden the lights in the corridor turned red and an alarm started wailing. “Time for us to leave.” Leonard pushed himself away from the door and darted down the corridor with Barry following still a bit sluggishly behind.

 

* * *

 

Iris waited outside the room Tracy had commandeered for building her Speedforce Bazooka. When Leonard Snart walked back out after handing over the alien power cell he and Barry had stolen from ARGUS to Tracy, Iris grabbed him by the arm before he could get away.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” “Absolutely, Miss West. You are just the woman I was looking for, anyway.” He gave her a charming smile that she would never admit was actually working. She motioned for him to follow her and lead the way to a spacious storage room down the hall.

Once they were both in there, Iris closed the door and turned to Leonard. “So first of all I wanted to thank you. For doing all of this.” He casually leaned against the wall, propping one foot up on it. “You act like I’m doing this out of the goodness of my own heart. I’m doing this because I get something out of it, you know that, right?” “Sure. Keep saying that. But you know Barry won’t believe it for a second. And I think neither will I.” Leonard huffed. “Please don’t tell me Barry has infected you with that notion that there is ‘good in me’” He made actual air quotes with his fingers and looked annoyed.

Iris didn’t let that get to her. She just shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t know, why not? I’ve heard what you did… what you are going to do. It didn’t sound like the deeds of a big bad criminal. Deny it all you want, you have a hero in you.” “You know, sometimes I wish I did.” He gave her a sly smile that really drove the innuendo of that statement home and Iris found herself laughing despite shaking her head at the same time. “Wow, that was such a terrible pun.” “And still it made you laugh.”

He took a moment to look her over. “By the way, I have to say you are very composed for a woman who walked in on her fiancé kissing another guy earlier today.” Iris couldn’t help but wink at him. “Well I guess it helped that I was the one who suggested it in the first place.” “Really, Miss West?” Leonard sounded actually impressed with her. “I gotta say you are full of secrets.” “And you don’t even know the half of them.”

“Care to share at least one more with me then?” When Iris shrugged in a non-committal way, he continued “How are you feeling?” “I’m fine.” “Come on now, West. I know what a poker face looks like.” She supposed he did, not that hers was so hard to see through these days. “Okay yes, I’m terrified, who wouldn’t be.” She looked down. “But I’m not just worried for myself. I’m worried what might happen to my father… and what could happen to Barry.” Or maybe ‘what will happen to Barry’ would have been more appropriate because she already had a very clear idea of it, she only needed to think about Savitar to know exactly where this road would be taking Barry if she – or someone else – wasn’t there to prevent it. And that right there was the whole point of this little meeting, so Iris squared her shoulders and lifted her gaze back to Leonard’s face. “Which is why I needed to talk to you.”

Leonard didn’t say anything, he just fixed Iris with an enquiring look, waiting for her to tell him what she wanted. “Look, despite everything, I want you to know that I’ve decided to trust you.” “A horrible decision really.” “Tangled? Seriously?” Snart shrugged. “Mandatory movie nights with Lisa.” Iris felt a smile tug on her lips. She could almost picture it. And maybe in another life - or on another earth – she could see herself or her doppelganger asking to be invited to movie night with the Snarts. She could imagine Golden Glider having a wonderful or a wonderfully terrible taste in movies. But here and now it wasn’t meant to be. Not with all of them around to enjoy it anyway.  

“I mean it. I trust you. But… but if something goes wrong, if things don’t go our way, I need you to promise me something.” Again he stayed quiet, just letting Iris say what she wanted… needed to say. “Promise me, you talk Barry out of taking you back to 2015. At least for a while. Insist on sticking around a while longer.” “Why?” “Because Barry will need someone by his side. But I also know that he will try to push away anyone that tries to come too close. And if what Barry told me about his future self from 2024 is true, he will succeed. Everyone will eventually leave. So I need to know that there will be someone who won’t walk out on him, someone that won’t let himself be pushed away.” “And that someone is supposed to be me?” Leonard didn’t sound convinced. “Just be your persistent, scheming self. We both know Barry won’t be able to get rid of you that easily, if you don’t want him to.” “True.” Leonard grudgingly agreed. “Still I don’t quite see how my presence will be helpful. Shouldn’t it be someone that’s… closer to Barry.” “I think you and I can agree that you two are close enough.”

Leonard somehow managed to look both embarrassed and slightly annoyed at that. “Look if this is about earlier, it didn’t mean much. Kid loves you.” “I know. Believe me, I know.” And she did. She truly did. But what she also knew was that they were still talking about Barry Allen. And part of what she loved about Barry herself was his tremendously big heart. Deep down she knew it was big enough to let a second person slip in while there was already someone firmly rooted in there. But of course if she now started talking about ‘hearts’ and things like love, Leonard Snart would either laugh in her face or flee from the room in terror, maybe both.    

“Please, just stay with him until he’s ready to let go.” Leonard narrowed his eyes at that and Iris got the feeling that he was picking up on something she hadn’t even said. “Ready to let go of you or ready to let go of me?” For a moment there was an unspoken understanding between them. “Both.”

In the heavy silence that followed Leonard seemed to ponder over everything Iris had just said, and maybe also about the things that had been left unsaid. However eventually it was Iris who spoke up again.     “And if you’re about to ask what’s in it for you, let me remind you that if it really comes to it, this actually will have been my dying wish and you are not allowed to charge for that.” Leonard smiled at her and she got the impression that he approved of negotiating tactics. “Understood. You have my word.” He cleared his throat a bit awkwardly, probably preparing to steer the conversation back to a more casual level. “Now, I do appreciate a good contingency plan but for now, let’s focus on Plan A, which is to get you out of this whole mess alive, okay?” 

 

* * *

 

Cisco kept staring at the feed from the security camera covering the entrance to Star Labs but the picture just wouldn’t change, no matter how much Cisco wanted it to. There was just no denying it: Savitar was standing right there at their doorstep.

Savitar turned to the camera and the mic picked up his eerily hissing voice. “I want to talk to the leader of your little operation.” Cisco pressed the intercom button. “Sorry, Barry can’t come out to play right now.” “I’m not talking about Barry…” “He’s talking about me.” Captain Cold declared entering the cortex.

“Well, you can’t go out there and face him on your own, either” Cisco said now addressing Cold. “As I recall I handled myself quite nicely last time. If Savitar wants to pick up where we left off, he can have it. Tell him I’m coming down.”

Cisco didn’t like it but then again better Snart than him, so he relayed Snarts message to Savitar. He kept watching the security camera feed and it didn’t take long until he saw Captain Cold entering the frame and welcoming Savitar with a mocking little bow.

“Well hello again, my dark lord. What can I do for you on this fine evening?” “What about what you were sent here for? Do you have it?” “You’re talking to a thief.” Snart sounded almost offended as he pulled something from his pocket. “Of course I’ve got it. Personally I’ve never stolen candy from a baby – not my style – but I imagine it would actually be harder.” A heavy lump settled in Cisco’s chest as he saw Snart twirling the little object around in his fingers. The security cameras didn’t have the highest resolution but it looked like a chip, at any rate it was a piece of electronic equipment.  A horrible suspicion dawned on Cisco. “Now,”,Snart continued. “I had a very interesting conversation with the Doctor-to-be and apparently whatever trap she’s working on – it won’t be more than a nerdy art project without this little piece here.” Shit, shit, shit and double shit. Cisco’s mind kept racing, he knew he couldn’t do much to stop anything that was going on out there as long as Savitar himself was around. But maybe if he called in Wally, he would be able to get the chip back before…

Snart snapped the chip between his fingers. “Guess that means, it’s Game Over for Team Flash.”

Cisco feared he was right about that.

“I still think you should’ve just killed Tracy Brand.”, Savitar said, eyeing the broken chip Snart was still holding. “And I told you, she could still be useful. Her knowledge about the Speedforce could come in handy. Now stop fretting. You’re… _ascension_ is drawing near. 24 hours from now it will all be over. And I have it on good authority that Tracy Brand won’t be able to replace the now tragically missing piece of her device in time for that; apparently it’s one of a kind here on earth.” Snart turned around and looked directly at the security camera. “I know you’re watching, Cisco. Tell Barry, I’m sorry and all that but Savitar here just made the better offer.” A moment later both he and Savitar were gone in a flash of blue lightning.    

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it just me, or are there really not enough scenes with Iris and Len in canon? I could see those two making a kickass – not taking shit from anyone – duo. (Then again, I will also forever mourn the fact that Len never got to spend time with Oliver and Felicity. Every show should have its own Len)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Given the very mean cliffhanger on the last chapter I tried my best not to keep you guys waiting too long for the conclusion of this story. So here it is the finale chapter (+Epilogue) 
> 
> Also the rating has changed due to a sex scene that wanted to be written.

Savitar couldn’t have been more pleased. Everything had already been going according to his plan and then Barry had made the wonderful mistake of adding Captain Cold to the equation. That fact that Barry honestly had believed Leonard Snart of all people would remain loyal when offered the chance of unimaginable power and wealth was almost laughable. But Savitar indeed remembered a time when he… when _Barry_ had been foolish enough to think there was a hero’s heart beating in Snart’s chest. It had been nothing but wishful thinking of course, the naive hope of a young man who wanted Leonard on his side.

Savitar on the other hand knew better. And he had used that knowledge to his advantage and promised Snart everything a thief like him would truly value. Earlier Snart had asked for more information concerning his actions and consequential demise in the future and Savitar had gladly provided it. Because the more Snart knew about his initial fate the more grateful he would be that Savitar was willing to remove him from the path that lead towards it. Savitar told him what he – in all his years of existence – had learned about the time stream, how the explosion of the oculus would most likely not have killed Snart but trapped him there, forever to be lost in the maelstrom of time without an anchor or a lifeline connecting him to the real world – a prison not so different from the Speedforce itself.

But if Savitar had his way neither he nor Snart would have to experience anything like that again. His ascension was drawing near now. Soon Barry Allen would feel what it was like to lose everyone he cared about. Savitar had already taken Leonard from him and in only a few hours Iris would be gone from his life as well. And then Barry would take care of everyone else himself, pushing them away until he was all alone with his sorrow and grief and anger; the emotions that ultimately would birth Savitar into this world.

For now however Savitar was more or less comfortably lounging on a ratty old sofa in his hide-out. Normally he didn’t make a habit out of spending too much time outside his armored suit but today he was willing to make an exception. Because sitting next to him on the couch was Leonard Snart and the feeling of his clever fingers lazily playing over Savitar’s arm and neck was simply too good to pass up.

“I take it you had fun today?”, Savitar eventually asked keeping his tone carefully bored. When Snart didn’t answer right away he continued, “You do realize I remember everything that happened to Barry, right?”  
“Well are you talking about the heist or the kiss? Because both were pretty sweet.”  
Savitar glared at him but Snart just chuckled. “Oh come on, you know I had to keep him entertained. And you can’t blame a guy for trying to mix business with pleasure. The important thing is: You got what you wanted.”  
“True.” Savitar agreed grudgingly. He just didn’t like the idea of Barry having anything that Savitar himself had already laid claim to. But that was in the past now and after what Leonard had done today he wouldn’t be able to go back to Barry even if he wanted to. Sticking with Savitar was his only option now and Savitar would make it worth his while.    

“And if you had so much fun pulling a simple heist with the Flash, imagine how much you’re gonna enjoy conquering worlds with me.”  
“Oh I’m looking forward to it. But right now we need to talk about Elsa.”  
Savitar narrowed his eyes.  
“Killer Frost? What about her?”  
“I want her gone. She could become a risk.”

Oh this was just delicious. Savitar didn’t even bother to hide the sly smile spreading across his face.  
“Are you jealous?”  
“No”, Snart sounded annoyed but Savitar was pretty sure it was because he had just struck a nerve.  
“I have no reason to be jealous. You are making it very clear who your favorite is.” He motioned to where Savitar’s hand was resting on Snart’s knee. “I know where I stand in the new pecking order – but so does she. She knows she ranks under me now. How long till she realizes she’s completely dispensable? Who’s to say she won’t go running back to her old friends or do something worse to sabotage your plan?”

Savitar actually had to laugh at that. “You think you’re clever, don’t you? But I can see right through you.”  
“Can you, now?”, Snart asked chin raised in challenge.   ****  
“You _are_ jealous.”, Savitar declared with delight. __  
Snart grunted but Savitar could see he was about to admit defeat on this one.  
“Fine maybe I am. Maybe I think one ice themed _associate_ is more than enough to pull off your plan and the fact that you have two could suggest that you haven’t decided after all who’s gonna be allowed to stick around once this is over.”

Savitar had to admit he was impressed by Snart’s cautiousness, even though in this case there was no need for it. And Savitar decided to prove it. He was feeling rather magnanimous in the light of how well everything had gone so far.  ****__  
“What if I gave you permission to take her outside and put a bold of ice through her head? Would that _please_ you?” He ran his hand up Snart’s thigh to accentuate his last words. __  
“Yes.”, Snart whispered breathlessly leaving Savitar to wonder if he was turned on by his touch or the prospect of getting to put down his rival. Both would work for Savitar. Past!him had adored Leonard Snart for all the wrong reasons. Only Savitar could appreciate the beauty of the predator, the strength of the killer.  
“Then get to it. Consider it a gift.”  
“Only the first of many, I hope.”  
“We’ll see.”, said Savitar already thinking about stealing all the world’s diamonds or maybe laying waste to CCPD. 

Snart got up from the sofa and walked to the crumbling stairs that lead to the second floor of the building.  
“Oh Frosty.”, he yelled upstairs. “Come down, the boss has a new job for us.” A devious smile played around his lips as he turned back to Savitar and winked at him conspiratorially.  
A moment later Killer Frost came down the stairs looking miffed; probably peeved to have whatever she was doing upstairs interrupted. Savitar didn’t care what she had been up to and soon it would be irrelevant anyway. Snart had been right, she was dispensable and sooner or later he would have had to find a way to get rid of her anyway, so why not have Snart do the dirty work while actually believing Savitar was granting him a favor? Things just kept going Savitar’s way, it seemed. 

Leonard nodded towards the door, letting Killer Frost go first.  
“So what are we going to do?”, she asked on her way to the door.  
“Don’t worry, I’ll explain it all to you outside.”  
A cruel smile tugged on Savitar’s lips as he watched the two of them leave together.                

 

* * *

 

“I can’t believe this.” Barry buried his face in his hands. Once again he was standing in the cortex with everyone else despite their agreement to not give Barry too many information on what was going on. Then again, the fact that Leonard had apparently betrayed them all for his own benefit would hardly come as news to Savitar since he was the one turning Leonard against them in the first place.   
“Well you better believe it, Barry, because it happened.”, Cisco said. “I saw it all going down on the security cameras.”

“What about the power cell? You said it’s gone too.”, Wally pointed out. “Can Tracy come up with something that might be able to replace it?”  
“Tracy basically locked herself up in the workshop. Iris is with her to help any way she can but Tracy said she doesn’t wanna see anyone else. She’ll try her best to work on a solution or a new kind of weapon altogether but… well we all know that we don’t have that much time left, so we might wanna come up with a different plan.”

“Captain Cold already was our plan B.” Despair almost got the better of Barry. He had been so sure about his idea to bring Leonard onto to team. He’d really thought it could give them a much needed advantage. Instead things had just gotten worse. It was Ferris Air all over again and how could Barry have been so stupid as to fall for the same trick a second time? If he was honest with himself, he already knew the answer to that one. He had believed Leonard had changed; he always wanted to see the best in him. But maybe he had been fooling himself all along.

He still didn’t want to accept it. What about the kiss in the speed lab? That moment they had in the ARGUS facility? Had that all meant nothing? Had Leonard just tried to lull Barry into a false sense of security? Make sure Barry never for a second suspected him going behind their collective backs? Barry felt sick thinking about it that way. But what other explanation was there?

Maybe Savitar had told Leonard what was going to happen to him in his future? All the things Barry _would let happen_ to him. If so, could Barry really blame him for opting to save his own life? Maybe if he got a chance to talk to Leonard, he could explain everything. Maybe together they could find a way to change the future. Then again changing time was what had gotten them all in this situation in the first place and Barry had sworn himself not to upset the timeline any more.   

“Barry, I’m sorry but we gonna have to cut our loses on this one.”, Cisco brought him back to the here and now. “I know you like to think that he somehow has a soft spot for you or whatever but in case you’ve forgotten: In some way Savitar is also you. Just without all the pesky morals – so he’s basically perfect for Captain Cold… and how did we not see this coming?”, Cisco now addressed the whole room. “We should have seen that coming.”

Maybe Cisco was right about all of this. Barry knew that for now it didn’t really matter. He had to get his head back in the game because time was running out for them. Once they’d stopped Savitar they could deal with Leonard, one way or the other.

Barry turned to Cisco “So what next? Any ideas?”  
“Well whatever we do, this is now an all hands on deck situation. We need you back in the loop, Barry. I know you wanna keep things secret from Savitar but we gonna have to rely on your powers if we wanna stand a chance. So I guess it’s time that we put our cards back on the table.”  
Barry wasn’t convinced that this was a clever move but Cisco kept insisting.   
“Look, we tried it your way and it didn’t work out. Now we just have to try something else. Don’t worry, we can do this.” 

 

* * *

 

Needless to say it all went horribly wrong.

And that was how – not even 24 hours later – Barry found himself in the exact same position he had seen himself in when he had accidently traveled to the future. Savitar was standing before him holding up Iris with one of his hands, ready to deal the killing blow.

“It’s okay, Barry.” She said despite the fact that nothing was okay and nothing would be okay ever again. “I love you.” And Barry bolted forwards, already knowing that he would come too late, that he wasn’t fast enough. The world around him moved in slow-motion and then out of the corner of his eyes Barry saw it. A stream of ice curled through the air, slow but graceful. If Savitar had seen it, he probably could have side stepped it easily but he was too caught up in the moment, in what he believed to be his victory. The streamed slammed into Savitar and made him lose his bearings for a second.

And still Barry kept moving, kept running and then his arms were around Iris and he pulled her from Savitar’s grip, speeding away with her.

He still hadn’t wrapped his head around what had just happened when he sat her down at the corner of a nearby building, out of Savitar’s reach for now. He spared a second to look at her, alive and breathing, marveling at the wonder of it. But his brain told him, it wasn’t over yet and quickly he turned around to look at the spot where Savitar had been standing with Iris only seconds earlier.

Savitar was still there, his mask didn’t give away any emotions but somehow Barry knew he was just as surprised as Barry himself about what had just happened. And there, behind Savitar stood Leonard Snart, Cold Gun still pointed at the god of speed. As the pieces fell into place for Barry, Savitar of course understood as well and he whipped around to face Snart.

“YOU?!”, Savitar roared in anger and bitter disappointment.  
“Me.”, Leonard agreed and shot another blast from his Cold Gun. This time however it didn’t hit Savitar unexpectedly and it became clear that the Gold Gun couldn’t do much more than slightly annoy Savitar and slow him down a bit.  
But then a second stream of ice hit Savitar from the other side and a moment later Killer Frost stepped out of the shadows.

Savitar turned his head to her, another furious growl on his lips. “And you! You should be dead.”  
“But I’m not.”, Killer Frost replied coldly, her face an angry mask as she concentrated all her power on taking down Savitar.

Barry watched as Captain Cold and Killer Frost worked together, each of them channeling their streams of ice and cold to one of Savitar’s legs, eventually rendering immobile for the moment.  
“You really think this will stop me?”, Savitar mocked them as he started to vibrate to get rid of the ice on his legs.  
“No.” Snart smirked despite the ice beginning to melt already. “But _this_ might.” He turned his head and shouted off into the distance. “Now, Tracy.”

Barry heard the humming of electricity, as if some sort of device had just been turned on and was powering up. When he turned his head he saw Tracy coming into view, her Speedforce Bazooka at the ready and aimed at Savitar. When she pulled the trigger nothing seemed to happen for a moment. But then blue lightning began to spark over Savitar’s legs were he had concentrated his powers. Before Savitar could react the lightning began spreading over his armor. Flashes of light ran over the metal like snakes striking their prey. It was like Savitar couldn’t control his powers anymore, as if something was manipulating them, or – Barry thought – manipulating the Speedforce itself.

“No!”, Savitar screamed in anger, squirming to get free. But the more use he made of his powers the denser the web of lighting over his body became and soon it enveloped him until no part of him was visible anymore. Then there was a bright flash of light that had Barry reflexively shut his eyes and when he opened them again Savitar was gone. Barry looked around but couldn’t catch any sight of him. He truly was gone. They’d really done it.

The relief flooding his every fiber nearly brought him to his knees. He felt Iris beside him, slipping an arm around him to steady him and he turned to her drawing her as close as he could and just held her in his arms, treasuring each rise and fall of her chest against his that told him that she was still with him.

Looking over her shoulder he could see Killer Frost taking a deep breath, obviously a bit drained from throwing her all against Savitar but a sly smile already returning to her face as she looked over at Leonard. “I have to admit, we made a good team right there.”  
“That we did.”, he agreed.  
“Still.” She took another breath and steadied herself. “I think it’s time I take my leave.”  
“Just one second.”, Leonard said quickly moving in close to her. His arm shot forward and as he withdrew it again a dart-like object was sticking out of Killer Frost’s neck.  
“What the…” She managed to yank the dart out but she only took one more stumbling step forward before she lost her balance and fell over.

In a moment of shock Barry let go of Iris and rushed over to Killer Frost’s side. Leonard had caught her and was now almost gently laying her down on the ground. A moment later Cisco was with them as well.  
“What the hell did you do to her?”, Cisco screamed at Leonard, looking down at Killer Frost’s limp body.  
“Easy, Ramon. I just sedated her.” At Cisco’s shocked face he just shrugged. “I figured you might want to take her back to the lab. Run a few tests, maybe find a cure.”  
“Actually… yes.”, Cisco mumbled sheepishly.

Barry himself was still confused beyond measure and tried to wrap his head around the whole thing. “What the hell just happened?”  
“I’d say we just took down the god of speed. Well, mostly I did.”  
“But how? What happened to him?”  
“Well I’d say, Miss Brand’s Speedforce Bazooka did exactly what it was supposed to, meaning throwing him back into his prison within the speedforce.”  
“But you crushed the power cell.”, Cisco insisted, looking up from where he was kneeling beside Killer Frost.  
“I crushed a… I don’t even know what it was exactly. It was part of one of her old prototypes. Looked fancy but didn’t do shit. I asked her to give me something I could pass of as the power cell while she was still working on installing the real deal into her Speed Bazooka.”

Cisco glared at Leonard. “Was that the plan all along? Why the hell didn’t you tell us?”  
“Because,” Snart said as if it was obvious. “How could I be sure you all could pull of the acting job required to make this work?” He looked around addressing both, Cisco and Barry as well as Wally who came speeding in to see what was going on with the rest of the team on his heels. “Barry had to be certain that I had turned against all of you, if there had even been the tiniest hint of doubt in his mind about it, Savitar might have been getting ideas. Sorry, Ramon, but it was need-to-know. I only told Tracy because I needed her assistance.” He paused then looked to were Iris was now walking over to join them again. “And I told Iris, because letting her believe she was actually gonna die seemed needlessly cruel.”  
“Wait you knew too?!!” Cisco now fixed Iris with a look of utter betrayal.

Barry felt like he was still in shock. He couldn’t even say anything to that. His mind seemed still too occupied with playing catch-up.  
Iris turned to him. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t tell you, Barry.”  
“No, I… I get it, you couldn’t.”, he glanced at Leonard “Both of you couldn’t.”  
Iris followed his gaze and gave Leonard a smile before going over to him and drawing him in a tight embrace. __  
“Thank you.”, she mumbled, her face pressed against his shoulder.  
“Don’t go soft on me now, West.”  
But Iris apparently didn’t listen to him because when she finally drew back she placed a kiss on his cheek.

By now everyone else had gathered around them, Joe rushing over to wrap Iris up in his arms while the rest of the team still seemed to be putting together what exactly had happened. 

“I’m still pissed that you played us.”, Cisco said to Leonard apparently still not really feeling the love. “Did you play her too?” he pointed at Killer Frost. “How did you get her on your side?”  
“I just made her see the truth. I told her Savitar didn’t give a damn about her. Of course she didn’t want to believe me at first so I told her to listen closely while I went and talked to Savitar about her. Savitar said I was allowed to kill her if I wanted.” He shrugged. “So she and I went outside to discuss her plan for revenge on him.”  
“I don’t get it. Why even bother? I'm sure you said the truth when you declared Savitar made you a better offer.”

Leonard grinned at that. “Are you kidding me? Spending eternity with that guy? No, thank you. When all is said and done, I prefer my speedsters charmingly naive, full of hope and _virtue_.”   
He nodded in Barry’s direction and Barry in turn just kept shaking his head in astonishment _._  
“I still can’t believe all of this just happened.”  
“Oh come on, Barry, don’t be like this. You practically hired me to find and exploit Savitar’s greatest weakness. And you were right. Under the armor and the god complex there was still a trace of Barry Allen. And I hate to break it to you, Barry, but your greatest weakness is that despite all the reasons I’ve given you not to, you still so desperately want to believe that I’m a man that can be trusted.”

“Well joke’s on you.”, Barry said swallowing against the emotions that threatened to choke him. “Because apparently I was right about you this time.” And with that Barry flashed forward and took a page out of Iris’ book by throwing his arms around Leonard and embracing him tightly.  
Leonard sighted long-sufferingly at first but eventually returned the hug. “What is it with you people and hugging?”  
“Shut up.” Barry mumbled. “You secretly like it.” And when he finally let Leonard step out of his arms again he couldn’t help himself and followed Iris’ example once again by kissing him on the cheek; trying to ignore the squeaking sound in the background that was probably coming from Cisco.

“Okay, that’s quite enough of that.” Barry got the feeling Leonard tried to sound annoyed but he failed miserable. “I think it’s time for me to go home.”  
A heavy lump settled in Barry’s stomach. So apparently Savitar hadn’t filled Leonard in after all. Guess that meant Barry at least owed him the truth. “Leonard? There is something I didn’t tell you about the past. About what’s going to happen to…”  
“I know. Barry, I know what’s going to happen.”  
“Then you know that after all that happened I can’t just let you go back there.”  
“And I think you know that you have to.”

Barry was ready to argue. He had messed with time before, he could do it again, just this once, just one last time. But Leonard seemed to know what was going on in Barry’s mind and didn’t even give him a chance to speak up.

“Barry, you are the most infuriatingly up-right and kind person I have ever met. Now, I had the pleasure of spending the last hours in Savitar’s company and if he is the result of you trying to change your own timeline, I don’t think I wanna know what horrors I could unleash onto this world. I could end up like you, my own worst – yet handsome – enemy. And to be honest I don’t think I would like my odds against him. I’d rather see the world keep on existing. After all, my sister still has to live in it.”

Barry’s shoulders slumped in defeat. He knew Leonard was right. Still it was completely unfair. And somehow he also knew that more than anything else he was mad at himself. He’d gotten what he wanted, Iris was save and he was so happy about that, so grateful and still it wasn’t enough. He childishly wanted everyone to be safe and he didn’t want to lose Leonard. Not again. But deep down he knew, he had to.

“So next stop 1975 then?”  
“No, like I said, we probably shouldn’t mess with time too much. Let’s just get back to 2015.”

 

* * *

 

_23 rd December 2015_

At Leonard’s request Barry dropped him off at one of his safe houses by the waterfront. Barry followed Leonard inside and then just stood there awkwardly. He took in his surroundings not quite knowing what to say but also wanting to delay the inevitable as long as possible.

Because Barry knew, as soon as he left and went back to his own time, he’d never see Leonard Snart again. Sure, he could always come back to a past moment in time but somehow he knew he wouldn’t, because saying goodbye once would be hard enough, Barry didn’t think he’d ever be able to do it again. And even if, it would never be the same as this, _they_ wouldn’t be the same.

Somehow Barry got the impression that Leonard was thinking something along the same lines. He kept busying himself with turning on lights and putting away scattered blueprints, even if it didn’t matter if Barry saw them or not. He just did it to draw the moment out a while longer.

But eventually he came back to where Barry was still standing uselessly in the middle of the room and immediately Barry’s heart clenched painfully.

Len however put on a sly smile and let his eyes wander over Barry’s body.   
“So, I know I declined my initial reward but maybe there is something else you could give me instead.”  
With the way Leonard was looking at him, Barry already had a pretty good idea of where this was heading.  
“Now, Barry, I want you to know this is not a demand, just a suggestion.”

Barry worried at his bottom lip not quite sure what to do with this proposition. It was a tempting offer but it might end up making things even more complicated. Then again, if Barry left now, knowing that he could have had this and let the chance pass him by, he would probably be kicking himself for the rest of his life.  

“Barry, again, if you don't wa…” Barry surged forward and kissed him, showing him exactly how much he wanted it. If this was how he and Leonard Snart were parting ways, Barry would make sure to make the most of it. And he pretty much had the okay from Iris too. If anything she’d probably be slightly miffed that she hadn't been there to join them.

Barry pulled back from the kiss for a moment to remove the cowl of the Flash suit he was still wearing and Len took the opportunity to sink his hand into Barry’s already messed up hair and pulled him back in. Soon Leonard’s hands moved down Barry’s back to settle on his hips.    

There was just one thing that kept gnawing on Barry.      
“You won’t be able to remember this, you know that, right?”, he mumbled in between kisses.  
“All the more reason to enjoy the moment while it lasts.”

Leonard’s hands kept running over Barry’s leather clad thighs and then his ass and suddenly Barry lost the ground under his feet as Leonard hoisted him up almost effortlessly. And damn, if that wasn’t a turn-on. Without giving it much though Barry wrapped his legs around Len’s waist and kept kissing him while Len carried him to other end of the room, where Barry had seen a bed earlier.

Leonard dropped Barry down onto the bed, settling on top of him. Barry pushed Len’s jacket off his shoulders and Leonard made quick work of his own shirt. Barry was given a wonderful moment to run his fingers over naked skin but all too soon Len detangled himself from Barry and made to get up from the bed again. 

“Just give me a moment. I need to get something”, he said while standing up. He turned back to Barry, obviously drinking in the sight of the Flash in full costume lying on his bed. “Don’t go anyway.” And with that he slipped through a door leading to another room that Barry supposed was the bathroom.

Soon enough Leonard came back out carrying a condom and a bottle of lube he had obviously been keeping in the bathroom. He tossed both over onto the bed next to Barry then popped open the button of his own pants.

“Let me.” Barry said and sped over to Len’s side and reached for his pants. With the button already undone, Barry opened the zipper and pushed them down right along with Leonard’s underwear. While Len busied himself with stepping out of them, Barry let his hands travel upwards again to close around Leonard’s dick and revelled in the low moan he was rewarded with. Barry walked them backwards until the back of his knees hit the bed frame and soon enough they were back in their previous positions on the bed with Leonard on top of Barry.

“You’ve ever done this before?”, Len asked and Barry only nodded faintly, remembering that time in college when he had done his best to forget about Iris dating one of her classmates by desperately trying to find someone for himself and ending up with a bunch of girls and one guy who all couldn’t hold a candle to her. But he wasn’t quite sure if that experience really shared any similarities with what was happening right now. Surely that young fumbling guy from back then couldn’t be compared to Leonard Snart, Barry seriously doubted anyone could.

Len kept rubbing his hands and face over the red leather of Barry’s suit. The Flash suit was supposed to strike fear into the hearts of his villains but somehow Barry got the impression that it had never quite worked that way on Captain Cold. Right now however Leonard’s fingers seemed to search for a hook or zipper and there was a frustrated groan coming from him when he failed to find one. Eventually he pulled back and just looked down at Barry.  
“I love this suit.”, he said, accentuating his words by letting his fingers play over the symbol on Barry’s chest. “I really do.” He huffed. “But right now, I just want you to take it off.”

Barry didn’t have to be asked twice. He slipped out of bed, removed his suit with his super speed and was lying under Len again before the other man even had time to blink.  
“Better?”  
“Much better.”, Len agreed and bend down to suck one of Barry’s nipples into his mouth. Barry moaned and started rubbing his hand over Len’s head in encouragement as Len moved at bit to give Barry’s other nipple the same attention.

Barry felt one of Leonard’s hands slipping between them, rubbing over Barry’s hips and thighs, then his erection and eventually moving even further. Barry pulled Len’s face away from his chest and up into a hungry kiss when he felt Len’s index finger teasingly rubbing over his entrance. Leonard ran his tongue over Barry’s lips and Barry opened up to him and let him explore his mouth.

Leonard’s hand left him and Barry whined at the loss of it. But he heard the snap of a bottle being uncapped and a few moments later Leonard’s fingers were back on him, now slick with lube. Still they kept kissing and Barry gasped into Leonard’s mouth as the finger that had teased him before slowly slipped into him.

Barry moaned part in pleasure, part in frustration as Leonard worked him open expertly but almost agonisingly slow, clearly planning on taking his sweet time with it. Eventually a second finger joined the first, then a third, and Barry was about to pull his lips away from where he was now sucking on Leonard’s throat just to tell him to get the hell on with it, when Leonard pulled away to sit back on his haunches. He let his fingers slip out off Barry and reached for the condom and the lube that were still lying on the bed beside them.

Barry watched as Leonard put the condom on himself but when he uncapped the lube bottle again Barry snatched it from his hands. He poured a fair amount of lube onto his own hand and reached for Leonard’s cock, making the other man moan as Barry’s hand closed around him and began stroking his length.

The feel of Leonard’s cock under his fingers was almost enough to distract Barry again but soon enough Leonard’s hand closed over Barry’s to get him to stop.  
“As enjoyable as that is, Scarlet, if you keep this up, we’re gonna be done here real soon.”  
Barry chuckled and let his hand slip away, taking pride in the fact that Leonard sounded wrecked already, no matter how he tried to cover it up with his usual snark.

Barry settled back down on the bed. He lifted his head to watch Leonard line himself up and then his eyes fell shut again and his back arched when Len started pushing in. Barry moaned and moved with him and soon they seemed to have found their rhythm.

Then Leonard’s hand closed around his calf, pulling his leg up higher on Leonard’s hips. On the next stroke he pushed in deeper, the angle slightly changed and Barry gasped when he suddenly felt his whole body literally vibrating with pleasure. Above him Leonard groaned and dug his fingers in deep into Barry’s shoulder.  

“What was that?”, Leonard asked still short of breath when Barry finally managed to get his powers back under control.  
“Sometimes my powers do that. Sorry.”, Barry said sheepishly but Leonard shook his head, passion burning hot in his eyes.   
“Don’t apologize. Just do it again.”  
He pushed into Barry again just as he had before and Barry found it quite easy to follow his request. He gave himself over to his pleasure and his powers, letting them work together and feeding of each other.

And then Leonard’s hand slipped between them and closed around Barry’s dick. It didn’t take much, just a couple of strokes, and Barry came apart, spilling all over himself. Only a moment later Leonard followed him over the edge.

-

Afterwards they just lay there for a while, Leonard still half on top of Barry while they tried to catch their breaths. It could have been a quiet moment, peaceful and sweet, but already Barry could feel his mind racing again.   

From all the dumb things Barry had done in his life, this might actually have been the worst. Barry had stupidly believed that spending the night with Leonard could give him some sort of closure. And sure, if he hadn’t done it, he knew he would have spent his life wondering what it could have been like. But Barry also knew that now, instead, he would spend his whole life wanting this moment back – the feeling of Len’s body stretched out next to him still sweaty and heavily breathing, slowly coming down from the heights of passion – wishing he could have had this forever, maybe one day even sharing it with Iris.   

Slowly Barry turned his head to look at the alarm clock on the bed side table. Time kept ticking away. And wasn’t that the cruelty of it all? Barry’s powers allowed him to stretch seconds into minutes, to travel to the past and future. He could manipulate time all he wanted and still there was never enough of it.

-

Eventually they got dressed and went outside. The safe house had a porch, that was actually more like a pier and there they stood in the cold winter’s night, about to say their goodbyes.

With a heavy heart Barry kept staring at the waves of the water and the snow still falling from the sky above. The whole scenery seemed peaceful but to Barry it felt more mournful than everything else.  
For a long time neither of them said anything.

But eventually Barry asked, without looking at Leonard: “You think we could have made it work?”  
When Len didn’t reply Barry turned to him after all. “You and I, and Iris?”  
“I prefer not to deal in what-ifs.”  
Barry nodded sadly but then Len slipped his hand into Barry’s and fixed him with a serious look. “But yes, we would have made one hell of a team.”  
Barry swallowed against the tears that were threatening to fill his eyes and rummaged around the pockets of his suit instead pulling out the device Cisco had given him before leaving 2017. It looked like an earpiece but Barry and Len both knew what its real purpose was. According to Cisco it would send an impulse to Leonard’s brain, making him forget everything that had happened after he left the West house about an hour ago in this timeline.

Barry was reluctant to do anything with it, though. He just kept staring at it lying in his hand.  
It was Leonard who eventually reached out for it, plucking it from Barry’s hand and putting it into his own ear.

“Goodbye for now, Barry Allen.”  
A red light started blinking on the device, signalling that it had started doing its work and Barry leaned forward one last time and pressed his lips to Leonard’s. When it was done Barry grabbed the device and sped away, leaving Leonard Snart blinking confused at the waterfront, wondering how he had come back to his safe house and why his lips tingled with faint electricity.      

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so before you get the pitchforks, please move along to the Epilogue.  
> Or don’t. If you like tragic bittersweet endings feel free to stop reading now. I ain’t the boss of you.


	4. Epilogue

Barry hastily wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his Flash suit before entering the cortex. He didn’t really want the rest of the team to see that he had eventually lost the fight against the tears welling up inside of him.

When he walked into the cortex however there were more people there then Barry remembered leaving behind a few hours ago. Sara, Ray, Professor Stein and Heatwave had somehow joined the rest of the team.

“Hey Sara, what are you guys doing here?”  
“Actually I would like to know that myself. Mick and Martin came to me this morning and said we had to travel to this time and place for some important business.”  
“Yes.”, Mick Rory said, walking over to Barry and reaching for his hand. He rather unceremoniously dropped a small silver ring into Barry’s hands and closed his fingers over it. “Special delivery for the Flash.”  
Barry opened his fingers again and stared at the ring. “That’s ehm… that’s nice, I guess, thank you.”  
“Don’t flatter yourself. It’s from Snart.”  
Now Barry didn’t understand anything anymore. “Wait, but how?”  
Mick shrugged. “I’ve been having these visions. And I told the doctor about it and he said he had them too when he suddenly remembered that he was having a daughter.”  
“Yes”, Stein explained. “So we figured that what Mr. Rory was experiencing were new memories being made in reaction to something changing in his past.”  
Barry turned his attention back to Mick “Okay. So what did you remember?”

“It was around Christmas, I guess. And I got this weird-ass text from Snart. Said: ‘On March 24th 2017 give the ring from our first job to the Flash’.” Barry started at the ring in his hand again while Mick kept talking. “Totally made no sense. I didn’t even have the damn ring back then, it was still Snart’s. He only gave it to me before he… you know, got himself blown up.”  
Barry kept turning the ring over in his hands. “What’s so special about this ring?”  
“Leonard kept it as a reminder that even the best laid plans can go wrong.”  
Barry mulled that over in his head.    
“So he probably knew; he knew that as soon as he would feel things were going south he would give this to you. And you in turn could give it to me.” It was a nice gesture, Barry supposed.  
“There was a second text. I should tell you… something like: ‘We can’t change our past but we can live in the present.’ Which is stupid if you ask me. I live on a time ship, I could change the past all I wanted… if our captain would let me.”  
“Which she doesn’t” Sara clarified.  
Barry barely listened to their little banter anymore. “We can’t change the past… but we can live in the present. In the present… we can live?”  
Of course. Barry couldn’t interfere with events that had already taken place but he could still shape the here and now, hadn’t he just proved that by beating Savitar? And if that was true, maybe now was the time to help Leonard.

“So.” Mick turned back to Barry. “Why did Snart want you to have this? Any idea what you’re supposed to do with it?”  
“As a matter of fact.”, Barry said. “I think I do.” He turned around to face the rest of the team. “Cisco? I’m gonna need your help with this.”

 

* * *

 

“There are no strings on me.”, Leonard declared proudly seconds before the Oculus exploded. It was like a tidal wave rushing over him but instead of dying there was a white light engulfing him.

When he opened his eyes Len was staring into eternity, seeing everything that had been and all the things that might still be coming. And he saw the part of his life that he had once forgotten about, how he helped save Iris West, how he had kissed Barry Allen on a snowy winter’s night... and how he – in a moment when Barry hadn’t been looking – had written two texts to Mick before deleting them from his own phone.

Around him time itself kept moving, a whirlwind with Len caught in its eye. He stood there for what might have been seconds as well as eons and then suddenly there was a voice calling out his name.

“Leonard?”  
He turned and saw Barry standing next to him, still dressed in the Flash suit Leonard had last seen him wearing on Christmas.  
“You came.”, he said smiling at the Scarlet Speedster.   
“Of course I did.” Barry offered a hand to Len. “Are you ready to go home?”  
Len just took Barry’s hand in his and hoped that was answer enough.

 

* * *

 

Before Len could properly adjust to his surroundings back in Star Labs, Sara had already hugged him tight and followed by her punching him in the chest.  
“Never do something like that again.”  
Len tried a grin. “You’re the last person who gets to lecture people on dying and coming back to life.” He looked around the room taking in the members of Team Flash and his crew mates from the Waverider. “So, anyone else feeling the need to hug me? If so, let’s just get it over with.”

It was meant as a joke but seconds later he had an armful of Raymond to deal with. He should have probably seen that one coming. When Ray finally let him go Mick came over, a mixture of wonder and suspicion on his face.  
“Is it really you this time?”  
“Yes, as good as new.”  
Mick clapped him on the shoulder and coming from him it was just as intense as Sara’s and Ray’s hugs.

He looked back over to Team Flash. Of course neither Cisco nor Julian or Wally seemed too excited to having him back. Iris however looked like she was fighting the urge to come running over to him.  
“I remember, you know?” He said nodding in her direction. “I remember what happened with Savitar and all that.” And that seemed to do the trick and she finally came over to put her arms around him.  
“I’m glad, you’re back.”  
“Me too, believe me.”

They both were taken by surprise when Barry slammed into them with barely suppressed super speed and turned the whole thing into a group hug.

“Why didn’t you tell me about that plan of yours?”, Barry asked when he and Iris finally let go of him.  
Len shrugged. “I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure that you’d be on board with it. This way at least Mick would have known somethings up with the ring and maybe he and the Legends could have figured out something themselves.”  
“But how could you know the ring would find its way to Mick in the first place? How did you know it would all turn out like this?”  
“I didn’t.”, Len replied truthfully. “I guess you were right. Meticulous planning can only get you so far. Sometimes you have to take a chance.”

And it had all been worth it, Len decided as Barry and Iris hugged him again. The things Len had seen in the time stream were rapidly fading from his brain, too many information for being held by a single human mind but the memories of his own experiences stayed with him. And even though the knowledge about the future kept slipping away, it left behind the unshakable feeling that everything would be alright. Barry and Iris might decide not to get married anytime soon after all but they would be together; with each other – and with Len. And Len would be proven right – They would make one hell of a team. Len knew it. Len had seen it.                           

 

 _He said "I am the devil, boy,_  
Come with me and we'll break many laws"  
He offered me eternal life  
but inside my heart there's a picture of a girl  
  
~ [_The Devil’s Tears_ \- _Angus & Julia Stone_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yQTGyYg0_E) _~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there you have it. Of course Len wouldn’t go out with at least some sort of contingency plan.  
> And yes, the whole thing about Len slipping Mick the ring and Mick’s line about how Len “never did anything without a plan” with no follow-up whatsoever on the show will never stop bugging me.  
> Also now I kinda feel bad for Savitar. Poor guy should have his own redemption arc but this just didn’t feel like the fic to do it. But imagine if Len had been there during 2x21 when they wiped Barry’s and Savitar’s memories. And maybe Len would’ve just told him that he’s one of his Rogues… but that’s a story for another day.


End file.
